(CNN) - Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was nearly killed more than 2 years ago by a man with a gun. Today, her brain injuries make speaking difficult, and yet she has become an active spokeswoman for new restrictions on guns.
Ironically she has not lost her love of guns. Target practice is still a form of entertainment at her mother's house deep in the Arizona desert. Her husband Mark Kelly uses pots and water bottles as targets, while Giffords watches from the patio with her mother cheering him on.
Watch more of Dana Bash’s interview with Gabby Giffords Tuesday on AC360 – 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET, only on CNN.
Kelly isn't shooting with just any kind of gun – he's using a Glock 9 millimeter handgun, the same kind of gun his wife was shot with.
"But in that case it had a magazine that held 33 rounds," he said. "This, when it's full, holds 17."
The gun is actually Giffords' – Kelly said he gave it to his wife as a gift years ago.
"She's a gun owner," he said. "She's from the West."
Giffords and Kelly argue because of their love of guns, they have more credibility in their fight to expand background checks to private gun sales.
Watch more of Dana Bash’s interview with Gabby Giffords Tuesday on AC360 – 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET, only on CNN.
Cover up for getting busted buying an AR15 or just a new level of hypocrisy?
Liberals are he biggest hypocrites
should the man that shot her have had a gun? No of course not.
should her and her husband have a gun?: Yes they should have any guns they want.
Until Democrats get this simple reality through their thick "slow to catch on" skulls the gun control fight will remain stuck in the mud. Where stupid initiatives belong.
Earth to CNN – gun control: DOA. Clearly the 2nd amendment is clearly enshrined in American psyche, but only Feinstein and CNN editorial staff have missed the blinking neon memo. Find some real headline news to report. Like Margaret Thatcher's passing, or the war on women in Arab and Persian regimes.
Well, I'm truly sorry that Representative Giffords was shot. I'm thankful that she's still alive and at least seemingly capable of enjoying some of what life has to offer. But really, what difference does it make if the Glock had a 33 round magazine, or a 17 round magazine? If one shot from either goes through the back of your head and comes out the front, you're either in serious trouble, as she was, or dead. If it had been a single shot gun, the results would be the same. Every time somethings happens with a gun in the US, we get the same tired old bunch, spouting the same tired old line. Give up already!
I love it! It seems to me that a category of people who should not pass background checks - in addition to criminals and lunatics - is anyone who is brain damaged.
Hypocrite plain and simple. Just like the rest of them out for control.
Tired of this
A tragedy happened to you – – doesn't make you an expert. Can she even understand what she is doing now?
The gun the kid had held 33 shots while this one only holds 17. Wow! They should go back to only allowing 8 in a mag and nothing larger.
Their guns are ok, but yours aren't.
Listen to this guy say this:
"She's a gun owner," he said. "She's from the West."
She has no right to tell others about "no guns". Is background check enough? Connecticut shootings would not have been prevented by background checks alone.
No one was credibility to prompte a gun grab.
King George himself would have made gun ownership illegal if
he could have gotten away with it!
Great, 17 rounds for handguns it is!!!! A perfectly acceptable number of rounds. Go Gabby!!!!
Now can you force California to end its silly 10 round restriction for 17 rounds? Please speak out Gabby for sensible gun rights.
May I ask who she blames for the brain injury? The gun or the man who should have had psychiatric help.
She understands that people kill people and people do bad things. Guns are just objects. Someone can use a car, knife, screwdriver, etc., to do the same damage. Guns are NOT allowed in Prisons yet people die in Prisons everyday. I feel horrible that this happened but if guns were illegal, this idiot would have used a car or a bomb to do the same if not more damage. I am a responsible gun owner and I carry legally everywhere I am allowed. If I happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, hopefully I can keep my wits and save lives. If more people do that, then this situation would happen less. We need education, not banning. Banning makes people want them more and create a HUGE revenue stream to cartels and smugglers like during prohibition. We need to learn from the past. The people that were not allowed to own weapons were oppressed. I for one, will not be oppressed.
The NRA, no matter what, irresponsibly, flooding America with gun$$$$$$$$$$$$.
This just makes the Giffords look like traitors to the American people. They rub shoulders every day with people like Feinstein who want to take away ALL guns and yet they want Americans to line up and register their guns. If they honestly have an appreciation for America's gun laws they would not help those who oppose those laws.
Hold on, why is it so important for Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly to push for limiting magazines down from their standard capacity, for example Kelly's 17 round magazine, to an arbitrary number like 10?
I feel that this is extremely hypocritical of Mr. Kelly.
"Giffords and Kelly argue because of their love of guns, they have more credibility in their fight to expand background checks to private gun sales."
They have no more credibility than any other American. Just as the author or the head of the Westboro Baptist Church don't get some magic "leg up" on the 1st Amendment because they exercise a freedom guaranteed in the BoR more than others tend to.
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17 rounds is considered a "high capacity" magazine and would in fact be banned under the legislation she has been lobbying for. The hypocrisy of gun control advocates has no limit.
Kudos. If getting shot in the head doesn't jade you, I don't know what will.
How are some people going to try and flip this on her?
I guess now that Obama and Reid have acknowledged that no Gun bill of any type will pass, not even in the Senate, these people are back in the saddle with "her love of guns". It was funny to hear Obama walk back all this BS over gun control, saying he just wanted to have a vote, and didn't expect anything to pass.
Kelly lost any credibility he had, when he got caught buying an AR-15, then lied as to the intended use of it.
According to NY, Colorado, Connecticut and Maryland politicians- these Gabby people are 'gun nuts' with assault weapons designed only to kill little kids ! High capacity magazines, semi-AUTOMATIC gunz, bullets, shooting stuff.... crazy people !
Unbelievable. Complete hypocrites